thecrowncompetitors

Probably the most successful Miss World title holders, Rai won the Miss World crown in 1994 the same year that her fellow country girl Sushmita Sen won Miss Universe. After relinquished her crown, Rai made her movie debut in Mani Ratnam's Tamil film Iruvar (1997) opposite Mohanlal. She had her first commercial success in the Tamil movie Jeans (1998), and came to the attention of Bollywood in the Hindi movie Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999), directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Her performance in the film won her the Filmfare Best Actress Award, and she successfully performed in Bhansali's next project, Devdas (2002), for which she won her second Best Actress Award at the Filmfare. Since then, she has acted in over forty movies in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, and English, including the international productions Bride & Prejudice (2003), Mistress of Spices (2005), and The Last Legion (2007) in English. The first woman from India to ever judge the Cannes International Film Festival, Rai is now the face of Bollywood. She She is now married to Indian actor Abhishek Bachchan. The wedding took place on 20 April 2007.

1st runner-up South Africa - Basetsane Makgalemele
2nd runner-up Venezuela - Irene Ferreira

Finalists

 Croatia - Branka Bebić
 Zimbabwe - Angeline Musasiwa

Semi-finalists

 Belgium - Ilse De Meulemeester
 Greece - Evangelia Adam
 Malaysia - Rahima Orchient Yayah
 Philippines - Caroline Subijano
 United Kingdom - Melanie Abdoun

Special Awards

Miss Personality: Patinya Thongsri (Thailand)
Miss Photogenic: Aishwarya Rai - (India)
Best National Costume: Irene Ferreira (Venezuela)

Continental Queens
Africa: Basetsane Makgalemele (South Africa)
Americas: Irene Ferreira (Venezuela)
Asia & Oceania: Aishwarya Rai (India)
Caribbean: Anita Lilly Bush (Cayman Islands)
Europe: Branka Bebić (Croatia)